Italy with my Mom - the valiant art historian. This is day one, it is a wonder we are both still smiling after being robbed by a Roman cab driver. This is the Villa Borghese. Lots of work by Bernini and several works by Rafael. The highlight for me was Bernini's sculpture "Apollo with Daphne" where Daphne is transforming into a tree as Apollo pursues her. |  |
 | The Roman ruins! What great fun it was to climb around here where the emperors and senators once lived. |
The Vatican. On its own the Vatican would have been a great experience, but going with my mom was outstanding. I learned tons about the high Renaissance artists and had a blast taking undercover photographs for my mom whilst the guards weren't looking! |  |
 | We went south to Pompey after a couple of days and went running around in the shadow of Vesuvius. |
The victims of Pompei were many. Pictured here are a number of the people who fled Pompei as the volcano erupted... they didn't make it. |  |
 | By my request we took the hydrofoil out to the island of capri to go walking for the day. Mom got really seasick on the boat and learned the valuable lesson that motion sickness pills do not work if taken just moments before the water gets rough. |
Amazing island. |  |
 | Towards the end of the day we came across a trail to the natural arch on the island. Mom wasn't to keen on hiking further so I went on alone - really cool sight to see! |
Mom really wanted to go and see the Amalfi Coast and there was no way to get there other than to hire a driver for a day. The roads were narrow and treacherous. This austrian bus was trying to make it along and ended up causing a huge traffic jam. It was unbelievable watching everyone get out of their cars and scream at each other in italian - as this was going on, Mom elbowed me and said "welcome to italy". |  |
 | While driving around we stopped at the ruins in Pasteum - astounding! |
 | My Luggage. |
Mom's Luggage. I had the luxury of carrying it everywhere (up and down lots of stairs). |  |
 | Mom and maps just don't get on very well. |
Mom is a bit like those fuzzy creatures that turn into gremlins (remember you can't get them wet or feed them after midnight). Well, with mom you must feed her every three hours and lead her to toilets often or else she turns into a gremlin (as pictured here). |  |
 | Mom and our valiant driver who she practiced her italian with for hours on end. I quite happily studied for exams in the back seat during all of this. |
Mom LOVES to shop. And I successfully offset her discontent at walking on Capri by taking her to designer stores in the afternoon. |  |
 | She was a great trooper though. There few moms around that could keep up with their 24 year old sons on a day hike. |